Former paramilitary leader and Chief Minister of the Eastern Province, Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan (Pillayan), was arrested this evening by a team from the Criminal Investigation Department. He was taken into custody on suspicion of abducting Professor Sivasubramaniam Ravidranath, a Vice-Chancellor of the University of the East, who disappeared 18 years ago on December 15, 2006, in Colombo.
The Vice-Chancellor had been residing in Colombo for safety reasons. An armed gang allegedly linked to Pillayan had threatened him with death if he did not resign from his post. On the day of his abduction, he was attending the annual conference of the Sri Lanka Association for the Advancement of Science at the Science House in Colombo 07.
Born on August 18, 1975, Pillayan became a child soldier in the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in 1990. He later recruited hundreds of young soldiers for the LTTE but eventually broke away under its military leader, Karuna Amman. Pillayan later left Karuna Amman and became the leader of the Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal (TMVP) party.
Pillayan hails from a land-owning family and now owns a large coconut plantation near Passikuda. He has caste-based support in the Batticaloa district. In the 2008 Eastern Provincial Council election, he contested under Mahinda Rajapaksa and was appointed Chief Minister of the Eastern Province, a position he held for several years. He continued to work with the Rajapaksa clan and was later elected as a Provincial Councilor.
Pillayan was previously arrested in connection with the murder of Batticaloa TNA leader MP Joseph Pararajasingham but was released after Gotabaya Rajapaksa became president. He was a close associate of Gotabaya Rajapaksa and allegedly acted as a paramilitary gang leader involved in several political killings. On April 19, 2022, Pillayan was appointed Deputy Minister of Rural Road Development by then-President Gotabaya Rajapaksa.
In the last presidential election, Pillayan supported Ranil Wickremesinghe, who reportedly provided him with millions of rupees for so-called development projects.
The Sunday Times reported on December 24, 2006, that Professor Ravidranath had informed his daughter he would return home for lunch on December 15, 2006, after attending the conference at the Science Building in Colombo 07. However, when his daughter called him at around 2:45 PM, his phone was switched off. When she contacted the driver who had taken him, he confirmed that the professor’s phone was switched off.
With no information about the professor, his family filed a complaint with the Dehiwala Police under CIB 2 225/260 at around 7:00 PM. The investigation was handed over to the Criminal Investigation Department within a few days, led by Senior Superintendent of Police Sisira Mendis, who was also the head of national intelligence during the Easter Sunday attacks. The CID informed the Sunday Times that a group suspected to be supporters of Karuna Amman was involved in the kidnapping.
During this period, Professor Gamini Samaranayake, chairman of the University Grants Commission, stated that the President had the final authority to decide on the Vice-Chancellor’s resignation, despite the threats. Following the professor’s disappearance, some university lecturers stopped attending work, and students left the university. Three days later, 67 scholars worldwide issued a statement requesting his release, but he was never found.
Born on February 22, 1951, Professor Ravidranath was 55 years old at the time of his disappearance. After the current government came to power, investigations into several suppressed cases were reopened, leading to Pillayan’s arrest.
Pillayan was previously arrested on October 9, 2015, in connection with the murder of MP Joseph Pararajasingham, who was killed during a church service at St. Mary’s Church in Batticaloa on December 25, 2005. He was remanded but granted bail on November 24, 2020. When the case was brought before Batticaloa High Court Judge D. Susidasan on January 11, 2021, the Attorney General’s Department stated it did not intend to proceed with the case, leading to Pillayan’s release.
(With the inputs from a Sinhala language article published by Tarindu Jayawardena on Medialk.com)